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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The writer was minister for children and families from 2012-17 and is author of the independent Timpson Review of School Exclusion (2019)
When my late mother Alex was asked why she fostered more than 90 children, she responded matter-of-factly, “I just like children; they’re far less complicated than adults.”
Those words rang in my ears on my appointment as children’s minister in 2012. I told myself to concentrate on getting the fundamentals right: a happy home, a great school, a feeling of belonging, a sense of purpose, the confidence to take risks and the chance to be your best. With these building blocks, every child could have a decent start in life: simplicity of policy was key.
In England, primary-aged children are now the best in the western world at reading and 15-year-olds have climbed the international league tables in maths and science. A disadvantaged 18-year-old is 71 per cent more likely to study at university than in 2010. Over 5.7mn young people have begun apprenticeships. Teenage pregnancy more than halved between 2011 and 2021. Ninety six per cent of early education providers are now rated “good” or “outstanding”, backed by the largest-ever investment in childcare in England’s history. And the number of children in custody has decreased since 2015 from just under 3,000 to around 400 today.
So, what must the new UK government do, or not do, to ensure the life-long success of future generations of children? School absence, domestic violence, poor nutrition, intergenerational poverty and social isolation are still all too prevalent across the country.
The new government must focus on policies that actually work. These are the ones that are unashamedly child-centred — not dogmatic, bureaucratically-inflexible, soundbite-driven, or headline-centred reinventions of the wheel. Such policies genuinely help improve outcomes for children from the word “go”, with the knock-on effects of enriching families in all their forms, rebuilding community resilience and strengthening society.
They fall broadly into local and national implementation areas, the local element is crucial to maintaining simplicity through permissive policy: cutting out the need for endless consultation, complexity and delay.
Locally, we can roll out Family Hubs alongside GP practices to hold “social surgeries”. These enable much earlier intervention through the provision of health visitors, paediatric care, vaccinations, and follow-up services. We must make family courts less adversarial and more pragmatic: focused on problem-solving.
We can develop the workforce to assist children with special educational needs — primarily through targeted early support — and make schools responsible both for the children they exclude and their educational outcomes.
Nationally, we require fluid early intervention dialogue across key departments: health, education, local government, and justice. We need to provide kinship carers — anyone looking after another person’s child on a full-time basis — with the support they need to provide stable homes. And we should reform the government’s broader approach to youth justice by closing all remaining young offender institutions in favour of more secure schools, and formally extending the pupil premium to all children of prisoners.
I could go on, and therein lies the dilemma. There is always the risk that the policy jam is spread too thin. Lots of good intentions can end up becoming missed opportunities. While the temptation is to do everything, often it’s more productive to empower others locally.
When she finally hung up her fostering boots, my mother continued volunteering as a home help for others who were struggling, teaching them to bond with their babies, learn to cook, manage a budget and become a confident parent. And while it isn’t government’s job to deliver the same personal care for every child, there’s much to be said for keeping it simple. After all, that’s what children want, too.